Monthly Archive for February, 2007

Specsavers

Before I start this rant, lets get a few things straight.

  • The year is 2007. 2007 people!
  • I can control my computer from anywhere in the world
  • I can phone people in other countries for free over Skype
  • My car has an MP3 player (though they’re called MP48’s in the future).

So why does a simple thing like moving house fuck everything up?? It’s not exactly unusual is it!?

What this boils down to is the fact that I pay Specsavers money and they give me contact lenses and I allow their emaciated opticians to shine lights in my eyes.

But recently I noticed I hadn’t received my lenses for a while so I thought I’d give them a call. It transpires that the peeps that make my lenses have decided to jack it in so I need to try a different make. Someone should have called me, but it’s not that big a deal I’m Ok, no one is getting torched yet.

So then I go to Specsavers to talk about some new lenses and they mention that I haven’t had an eye test since May 2005. 2005! Nearly 2 years ago!

Here’s the conversation with the emaciated Optician:

Woman: So err when was the last time you had an eye test?

John: Ummm I don’t know…last year maybe?

John-internal: How the fuck should I know?! Don’t you have all my records? What am I paying you people for? etc etc..

Woman: cos it says here it was May 2005

John: [silence]…..[possible eye twitch]

John-internal: ..hulk…smash…

Woman (chirpy): You should have received lots of letters reminding you…

John (loosing it just a tad): Just like I should have had a phone call telling me my lenses weren’t being made anymore?

John-internal: Oh yeah I got them, but I just thought: Screw my eyes and screw you bitch!

Woman: [silence]….

So if you hear about some place in Eastleigh doing an impression of a towering inferno, you haven’t seen me. OK?

New Forest

Esther and Nic came down this weekend and we walked (well more like trudged) around the New Forest, walked the old city walls in Southampton and walked around the docks there.

Of course I [took some pictures]

Spiky Shell ThingySpiky Shell Thingy Hosted on Zooomr
A35A35 Hosted on Zooomr
Technorati , , , , ,

Reading University joint CS and CYB 2001 entrants meetup 2007

Sunday the 18th of February 2007

Well ok there were only three of us, but the plan was for more (4).

The plan was to wander around the [Science museum] and go to the [GameOn] exhibition, which went off almost without a hitch apart from boB being a bit late (some things never change).

As I got there a bit early I spent some time wandering around the [Natural History museum] too which is always good fun :)

Actually getting to London from Winchester on the train is remarkably cheap, only £17.50 for a return and travel card for zones 1, 2, 4, 5, 6!!!

The [GameOn] exhibition is excellent, loads of old arcade machines to play on, something from every console and even some more modern things like 4 way Halo. All for about £8!

I took some [interesting photo's around the museum], but most of the time it was too dark :(

Train Station at SpeedTrain Station at Speed Hosted on Zooomr
Natural History MuseumNatural History Museum Hosted on Zooomr
Cat KebabCat Kebab Hosted on Zooomr
Super Monkey BallSuper Monkey Ball Hosted on Zooomr
Giant Pong!!Giant Pong!! Hosted on Zooomr
boB eating sausages and riceboB eating sausages and rice Hosted on Zooomr

beer animals

Time for a beer animals update me thinks!!

Cat?Cat? Hosted on Zooomr
Duck?Duck? Hosted on Zooomr

Check out the [beer animals set] and feel free to send your beer animals to beeranimals AT bluemonki DOT net :D

Potential tag line:

Beer Animals, it’s like a drinking safari!

We’ll have someone apt saying it, like Johnny Vegas or Vic Reeves…

Obviously if you only saw a Cat and a Duck on your safari you would be more than disappointed, maybe people can come up with tips for creating better animals, maybe even a how to? My quick tip for the day is this:

drinking more increases the power of your imagination, the more you drink the more exotic the animals you will find*.

* not an actual guarantee

Leeks!! MMmmmm Leeks!

It’s winter, which means I need to eat more food in order to stay warm :)

To help you out I thought I’d start posting some recipes that are both warming and pretty environmentally friendly too!! So here goes!!

Leek and Potato bake

What you need:

  • A kind of casserole pot with a lid (if you don’t have one then go get one from Robert Dyas or [Woolies] it’s only £6 ish..)
  • Half a pint of double cream
  • A knob of butter
  • Enough potatoes that they fill the dish (before you’ve done anything to them)
  • A good sized Leek (currently in season!)
  • Some sausages to eat with it (peppery ones are good!)

What to do:

  • Peel and slice the potatoes, put half of them on a plate and whack it in the microwave for about 7 minutes so they get a head start on the old cooking thing
  • Once they’re done cover the bottom of the casserole dish with most of them (watch out they’re funking hot and so’s the plate).
  • Now for the leek, chop then ends off, then slice it down the middle long ways and give it a good wash, then put half of it on top of the potatoes in the pot and cover with what was left of the potatoes on the plate
  • Whack the rest of the potatoes on the plate and into the micro for another 7 minutes. Put some pepper on the stuff in the dish while you’re waiting (aka season to taste)
  • Once the final lot of potatoes are done make a decent layer with some of them, make another layer of leek, and then put the rest of the potatoes on top
  • Finally whack some more pepper one, pour the cream all over it and put the knob of butter on the top!
  • Stick it in the oven for about 40mins - 1 hour and take the lid off for the last ten minutes. Also don’t forget to cook the sausages for an appropriate time

And that’s it. Enjoy the taste of soft potato and buttery leek :)

note: you can do this if you have a dish without a lid, but it doesn’t turn out too great so try and improvise something.

You can also check out some more of my recipes in the [recipes section of the wiki]